My Approach to Using AI
AI is fundamentally changing the way we work. This is especially true in creative fields that are content-based, where the output is a document, copy, or the like. I believe that AI is a powerful tool, but it is only that. It is a tool that can help creative and insightful people, but it is not a substitute for human creativity and insight. To paraphrase Alan Turing, a machine intelligence does not think like a human being; it thinks like a machine. It cannot truly understand human beings. The current form of AI, the “Large Language Model” or LLM, can extrapolate, statistically analyze, and employ any number of other approaches, but it is always limited by two things: the pre-existing content on which it was trained, and the machine structures of its own thought processes.
I believe that too many in the creative world are rushing to let AI function as a substitute for real thought, and that there is always a place in strategy and communications for thoughtful, creative human beings. AI can streamline routine tasks, and it can greatly speed up data analysis; it can even be a helpful sounding board for those of us who “think out loud,” and it can even assist with basic content ideation. And in doing so, it can free up time for human creativity to flourish.
In my own practice, I leverage AI to boost human ingenuity and deepen strategic insights, not to replace them. For instance, I use AI for a variety of tasks that enhance my core work:
Accelerating Insight Generation: Analyzing complex data from sources like Google Analytics and Search Console to quickly identify patterns and trends, allowing me to focus on the nuanced interpretation and strategic application of those insights.
Strategic Sounding Board: Serving as a dynamic tool for basic content ideation and review, helping to ensure foundational elements like SEO keywords are hit, or to provide an initial perspective when I feel "too close to the problem" to see it objectively.
Structuring Complexity: Summarizing and combining extensive thoughts input over the course of a “conversation” or research into a cohesive structure, kind of like a personal assistant.
For me, as an “agency of one,” AI allows me to be far more efficient and scale my work. At the same time, I recognize that AI has a lot of issues, from its environmental impact to the way it replicates biases around race, gender, and sexual orientation derived from its training material. For these reasons, as someone committed to principled impact, I am committed to using AI cautiously, remembering that it is only a tool; and like most tools, whether it is a force for good or ill depends in no small part on the hands that wield it.
Ultimately, my hope and goal in this philosophy is to ensure that every strategy and communication piece developed at The Tracy Agency is born from profound human understanding and strategic architectural design, crafted for principled impact and truly authentic connection.